In a documentary for the PBS series American Experience, filmmaker Ric Burns tells the tale of a small group of extreme people whom history and myth record as the founders of a new nation. The Pilgrims faced countless challenges when they came to the New World in 1620. The fact of their survival and success is not only commemorated every November, it also exists in the very myth of America’s origins. Thanksgiving Day, we're rebroadcasting our conversation with Burns to winnow fact from fiction about the Pilgrims. (Rebroadcast)
American Experience: The Pilgrims premiered last year on PBS. It's available to view on-line at pbs.org
Ric Burns is a documentary filmmaker and writer. Among his films are New York: A Documentary Film; Death and the Civil War; and Into the Deep: America, Whaling, and the World. He wrote and directed the American Experience documentary The Pilgrims.